Jean C. Vélez Rodríguez

Co-Founder/Executive Director

Jean C. Vélez Rodríguez holds a BA in Education with majors in History and Philosophy from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus; and an MS in Epidemiology from the University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus. His contributions in the field of epidemiology have been primarily focused on the advancement of public health policies through novel insights into psychedelic substance use in Puerto Rico.

Mr. Vélez Rodríguez served as a research assistant at the Graduate School of Public Health of the University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus, where he explored various health topics, including Hurricane Maria and COVID’s effects on pregnant women and biomarker reference interval calculation for Hispanic populations. He was selected as part of the 2023 Fall Cohort of the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP) Graduate Student Epidemiology Program (GSEP). In this program he developed a survey for measuring child care needs, employed Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to measure stress in Mid-Iowa and contributed to the Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) literature in the United States.

During his time in Medical Sciences Campus, Mr. Vélez Rodríguez founded the first Puerto Rico chapter for Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP). The chapter provided harm reduction seminars for spanish-speaking populations.

Deeply committed to the advancement of evidence-based interventions for mental health, Mr. Vélez Rodríguez authored the first epidemiological study on magic mushroom consumption in Puerto Rico and is an active psychedelic researcher. As co-founder and executive director of PRISMA, he hopes to improve science communication for the results of novel studies focused on psychedelic science, harm reduction and public policy.

Mr. Vélez Rodríguez is also a veteran from the United States Marine Corps having served from 2016-2022 as a Landing Support Specialist and being promoted to the rank of Sergeant.